Originally presented as author's Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1981. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-325).

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-223).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--The University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 112-114).

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / James F. Ragan Jr / This report reviews the effects of fertility on female labor supply, primarily female labor force participation and work hours. Although estimates of the causal relationship between fertility and female labor supply are mixed, this report tries to review why and by how much an additional child in a family affects work decisions and work hours of mothers on average. Statistical analysis shows a decreasing trend in fertility and an increasing trend in female labor force participation throughout the world over the last four decades. Using different specifications and estimation techniques, empirical studies suggest that fertility has negative effects on maternal labor supply because childbearing falls on women and women have lower wage rates than men on average. The negative relationship between fertility and female labor supply is explained by social, economic, and technical forces that affect fertility and female labor supply, including an increase in the value of women’s time due to an increase in education levels of women, expensive childcare, and substitutes for children; emphasis on quality instead of quantity of children; an increase in employment opportunities for women; changes in social norms towards supporting women working outside their home; and technical progress in birth control.

The ageing of the Swedish population entails an increase of public and pension expenditure. A solution to keep the compensation level constant is to make individuals retire later from the labor force. In order to understand what actions need to be implemented, there is a need of more knowledge about the characteristics of individuals who chose to remain in the labor force after the normal age of retirement. This essay investigates how senior workers’ that are above the normal retirement age responds to an increase of non-labor income and how it affects labor supply. The results show that around 66 % of individuals will continue to work to the same extent, around 15 % will choose to reduce hours of work, and near 19 % will chose to retire. Also the results show that a person that will not change anything in hours of work after an increase in non-labor income will most likely be a male that is self-employed, who really likes his job and has a postgraduate degree. One conclusion in this essay is that to only focus on compensation levels in different social insurance systems to increase senior workers’ labor force participation will not be as effective as if also focus would be on social norms and cultural beliefs to increase engagement towards work.

This thesis examines the labor force participation decisions of married couples, and special attention is paid to a spouse’s health conditions affecting their own and the spouse’s labor force participation decision. I used the Health and Retirement Study survey data and estimated a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model. A number of variables besides health condition were added: age, education level, and family unearned income. The results of this research paper support the findings from the relevant literature that the labor supply decisions of the husband and wife are related. The oldest age group is least likely to work. The younger the husband, the more likely it is that the husband will work. At the ages between 40 and 49, wives have the biggest probability to work. The higher the education level, the more likely it is that a spouse is going to work. The more total family unearned income, the less probable the spouse will go to work. Poor health has a negative effect on labor force participation and a positive effect for the spouse’s labor force participation.